


Another Fresh Start

by journaliry



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Family, Gen, One Shot, older cast, time skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-07-05 06:58:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15858549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/journaliry/pseuds/journaliry
Summary: Stanford Filbrick Pines had spent his youth on research and studying, once again he returns to his home in Gravity Falls after traveling





	Another Fresh Start

In the sleepy forests of Oregon the summer air was crisp and red hot. The ground was solid and static. The forest's trees were so tall their leaves lined the roads felt entrapping. No one felt this more than a man who had called the ocean home for several months. The shifting water underneath the bobbing ship would cradle him each night as he slept. The floor would constantly sway in a gentle rhythm. With each sweeping wave that would role beneath his boat he felt his soul being nurtured by the sea. Now that he was away he could no longer hear the silent lullaby the ocean would sing every second of everyday.

He recalled the waves spanning as far as the horizon, constantly changing shape. An endless open ocean. An ocean just like the one from his childhood dreams. The sky seemed just as vast to him. He would time each day so he could attempt to watch the setting sun vanish. Some days he was lucky enough to see the sun let out a green flash as it snuck beneath the horizon. It was the small things that he would experience at sea that meant the most to him. He would feel a twinge of excitement when he would spot seabirds flying along the wind, they would lead to lands that may yet be unexplored. Only reckless adventurers without the ambitions of simple minded men could sail out to those unmarked lands. Blissfully he would chart out any unknown location on one of his many maps.

Each and every sea, gulf and bay felt new but familiar to him. The winds always changing, the surf eternally pushing and pulling, the uncertainty of the shoreless ocean reminded him of his days when he was on his own.

Living on the ocean had its challenges, maintaining supplies was a pain and simple things like showers were a luxury. However, this man was no stranger to challenging conditions. His whole life, he found satisfaction in enduring the trials life would throw at him.

During his down time he would lean over the railing and watch the white shine of the moon lacing the outline of each passing wave. Swiftly a wave would rise up and then die as another would quickly come to take its place. A never ending array of chaos, but in the fury, there was a balance. A pure balance that you couldn’t find anywhere else on earth. He felt this balance even during the storms, when the waves would smash against their ship. When the roaring sea would violently shake him and fill his eyes with salt. The ocean would change its tune and its song would become calm again. Each crashing wave would die with a brief mutter like a music note. Some days he would find himself adrift in a meditation, listening to the sea’s song and watching its ceaseless dance. Most of those times he would be caught off-guard by the laughing of his brother, chuckling away at how a _brainiac_ could get so absent-minded.

Now, after a long journey at sea, he found himself on land again. His mind and his body still haven’t disembarked from the sea. Physically he could still feel the bobbing of the tides. Mentally he still was expecting to see sheets of gray-blue riptides but instead found himself staring into the same trees he had studied in decades ago. He exchanged the deep blue waves for the giant pines forests. The smell of algae was replaced by the earthy scent of fallen leaves. The white froth of the blue water was now dead branches from the trees. He was back in Gravity Falls.

* * *

He stepped through the front door and took a deep breath. He hoped to breathe in the scent of home. He ended up smelling himself. He still had the stench of the ocean in his hair and in his clothes. He had just tied up his ship, leaving it at a dock he owned with his brother, Stanley. He sailed the world with his brother looking for anomalies and now he was home. He walked through the hall of his log cabin. For so long it had been a place for his study. It had been a lab. It had been a home. Every summer it was shared with several of the kindest people he had ever had the honor of knowing. His grand niece and nephew were planning on visiting for the summer as they did every year. Also every fall break, and every Christmas, and every holiday lasting longer than a week. The family he found in those kids have been a light in his life. They had been a small flame to him and his brother had been the candle. Stanley had been outside getting help unpacking his car from his former repair man Soos. Soos had been running the Mystery Shack since the end of the summer Stanford came back to town. He was kind enough to drive Stan’s El Diablo to pick the two of them up with his wife Melody. When Soos moved in he brought his whole life into it too. His poor grandmother died shortly after he married Melody about three years ago. Seeing how upset Soos was Melody bought him a golden retriever which he decided to name, 'Questiony the Question Dog.' At hearing the ridiculous name Stan asked, “Why not just call him Quest?” The name stuck ever since. The family took to the dog really quick. Ford never had a pet in his life, lab animals sure, but didn't put much stock in caring for an animal just for it's so called- _love and affection_. He already disregarded Waddles and Gompers, but Quest always seemed so happy just to see him when he walked into a room, he couldn't help but smile back. Mabel would brush through his hair as she sat on a cushion and watched tv. He would come to her with a brush in his mouth when he would notice her gearing up to enter the living room. Dipper actually took the time to teach quest some commands and how to walk without a leash. Dipper taking the effort to train quest made the hound very fond of him. He definitely respected him more than any of the other members of the household. When he was still a puppy he ran off with Stan's beanie and chewed it apart. To this day Quest still regards Mabel as another playmate and nipples on her knees when he wants a treat, which she always cave in and gave to him. Ford could swear he heard Stan say “I love you” to the dog when he thought no one was around to overhear. Quest is never seen without his trademark Mystery Shack™ bandana on. Melody creates different designs for prints and clothing that Soos sells at the shack. She isn’t half bad according to Stan but that is an understatement, she’s much better than Stan ever was. Stanford found himself walking through the gift shop of the shack, he averted his eyes from staring at any of the attractions Soos set up in his home. Soos is kind enough to take care of his home while they are away. Ford still was not that familiar with his brothers business but did not feel the need to question it. At first he hated the very idea of the _‘Mystery Shack’_ but after Stan showed him the debt they both managed to collect and the bills that piled up he quickly changed his tune. Still, half the time his home feels like someone else’s, that he stepped into another man’s life.

He walked across the wooden floor of his hall, he pushed open the door to his room and stepped over the threshold. He found it to be in the same shape he left it in. In fact, very few things have changed since he had abruptly left more than thirty years ago. Ford had left some notes up on a pin board that Soos insisted that he used. Ford never took to using it more than once but he appreciated the attempt to keep him, well, organized. Ford dropped his bags onto his old desk, still cluttered with research papers and books. He looked over to the middle of the room, his old couch had been replaced with a new bed. Ford had become used to sleeping on his couch but Stan insisted that he buy a real bed. He took a seat on his matress, his eyes glanced onto the stickers stuck onto bed’s board, each a gift from Mabel. All of them had a short inspirational phrase on them such as "up and atom" or "like a proton, stay positive!" From the moment he met Mabel, he found her enthusiasm infecting. Dipper gave him a few of his old magazines and books. The two of them had the same taste when he was his age. To be honest, Stanford never quite grew out of loving science fiction, even with all of the life experiences he had accumulated over his travels. After all this time, most of his room remained the same. He glanced over at his old liquor cabinet. During his early years he had spent most of his nights drinking himself to sleep. He had never replace the calendar tacked to the wall above it. Counting the days feels pointless when he would come home only during Dipper and Mabel’s visits. There’s something funny about that to Stanford, he himself visits his own home. Doesn’t even truly live in it. That hardly seemed to matter to him now, he lived to be with family.

Ford stood up and dragged himself to the bathroom. He decided it would be best if he took a long shower and fixed himself up before he slept. Mabel was always insistent that he took care of his appearance because _‘you never know who you’re gonna meet.’_ Usually she would finish the sentiment with a wink. He couldn’t bring himself to care what others thought of him now, not after all this time. Yet he was well aware that if he choose to ignore his shabby hair and overgrown beard he would be met by Mabel’s scorn. He carried himself over to the sink where he trimmed his sea-salt damaged hair back down to his normal cut. For a moment he considered leaving his beard intact. A flash thought came to his mind of his brother laughing, _‘you look homeless, and that’s coming from me.”_ Ford went in search of his old lighter.

* * *

A week had passed by, he knew exercise would help rid him of disembarkment. He had broken in his land legs early from jogging around the trails of the forest. Stan would still make complaints muttered under his breath about how he still had vertigo and how if he wasn’t so old he could go for a run too, as if they weren’t the same age.

Before the morning light could come to fill Stanford’s room, he was awoken by the loud banging of a woodpecker outside his window. It became difficult for him to sleep lightly during his travels through the multiverse. He was never sure what was a threat and what was just a creature’s mating call. He used to wake with a start, but as time passed by he got used to the calm nature of Gravity Falls. Years ago he used to explore the forests of the Falls and found a number of different oddities. Most of the creatures that occupied the town had not seemed threatening, just strange, like him. Though he can’t deny he’s met his fair share of vicious beasts on this very Earth. It was almost humorous, how a town that he had more than once felt trapped in, became a safe haven for him. He sat up in bed and fixed his glasses to his face. He peered out his window into the yard. He looked forward to the evening, when he will meet with his favorite great niece and nephew again, the two of which weren’t strangers to the bizarre themselves.

* * *

Stanford had walked out into the kitchen where he found his twin brother, not dressed of course, reading a newspaper and sipping his morning coffee. He fixed himself a cup and made his way to the vending machine. He decided to do his daily check on his old equipment on each individual floor beneath the shack. Ford was casually sipping his coffee, lightly glancing over every item in his old lab, making sure nothing seemed out of order or unstable. When he got to the final floor he walked into the room that he once used to build his inter-dimensional portal, nearly everything had been gutted out and replaced with a makeshift laboratory. His old partner McGucket had lent him some old desks from the mansion that he had purchased. He used them as tables for his brief experiments on the samples he would collect on his travels. He would still document and study anomalies and even began another journal to catalog his studies. He glanced over some of the most newly acquired samples, saliva samples from an afanc, some vials filled with water from the arctic, feathers from a harpy, and scales from a reverse mermaid. The last thing he collected was an amulet that seemed to have some curse that it would attempt push away water that came within 10 foot radius of it. After a quick glance over his work space everything seemed sufficient. Ford head back to the elevator. He stopped to admire and old photo of Dipper and Mabel that Stan had left on his old control panel. He could hardly believe that those young kids had grown into their high-school years. They were going to be turning 18 this August.

Each year Mabel seemed to go through a new _‘makeover’_ one year she attempted to be goth and shaved her head after getting gum stuck into her hair. She had a knack for making her own sweaters and had grown into making her own clothes. Last time he saw her she had been working with 60’s and 70’s fashion, always wearing bright orange and pink colors and different sunglasses every day. Ford could admire how expressive Mabel was. She had little regard for if something seems like a bad idea, she just acts on impulse and sees where it leads her. She had bleached her hair blonde and styled it after some actress she admired at some point. Dipper told him not a week later she died her hair pink and gave herself a bob.

Dipper himself had never been the type to act on a whim when it came to his looks. The most dipper had changed was his height. He still kept the same hair style covering his birthmark. He dressed in flannel and always wore a t-shirt with some sort of logo, always different bands that Ford was unfamiliar with. Dipper was always wearing something worn out and old, he refused to throw out anything that could still be of use. It took till last year for Wendy herself to tell Dipper to throw out the old hat she gave him because it, in her words, “wreaked.” Ford had no idea how Dipper could avoid Mabel’s scorn, perhaps he was just used to it. Seeing Mabel and Dipper next to each other it always seemed like they were parallel opposites. Dipper nearly always had something on his mind and rings under his eyes, Mabel even in her darkest moments was a ray of sunshine. Ford thought for a moment of how he must have looked besides his twin. Even after all these years Stan had been the Mabel to his Dipper. Just without the glitter.

Stanford met with Soos, his wife, their dog and Stanley. Soos was pestering Stan to recount all of his journeys around the world with Ford. Melody gently laughed at her husband’s childlike excitement. Ford admired the bond that the couple shared. Melody and Soos were both delightfully immature, the kind of couple that would follow each other’s dreams on a whim and do so with pride. He hardly knew either of them on a deeper level than Soos’ obsession over Stan and himself. Soos admired the twin brothers as heroes, he would tell Ford on multiple occasions how he had the _‘coolest backstory.’_ As for his wife, within her own words, she loved his _‘mad sciencey vibes.’_

When they arrived at the bus stop they found Mabel’s old friends, Candy and Grenda, gleefully embracing each other in excitement to see Mabel again. The both of them greeting everyone loudly and assisting Soos in prodding Stan for answers to their bizarre questions. “Did you see any handsome merman!?” “What’s the hottest creature you saw?” “Do you have photos!?” Ford spotted two other teens standing near them, one a blonde girl texting and one with a large pompadour reading a light novel. According to Stan, Pacifica Northwest and Gideon Gleeful were once enemies to the entire family but _‘the two scamps turned them around.’_ The two of them approached the group and started poking friendly fun at everyone’s excitement. Pacifica made fun of Stan’s ugly new shirt and he threatened to wipe off her makeup before Dipper could show up. “How did you-!? When did you-!?” She felt her face turn red and hid her face behind her phone. Everyone began laughing, Candy hit her shoulder and under her breath gave her some encouragement “Maybe this will be the summer, right Pacifica?” “Shut up!”

Ford was more of an onlooker than a participant in the excitement, even so he still felt the same joy that everyone else held in their hearts for the Pines family to become whole again. Ford looked on with a warm smile, he noticed another person walking up to join their group. Sunlight was shining through long strands of red hair that was flowing against the summer’s stiff breeze, instantly he recognized the approaching figure to be the cashier girl. “Wendy!” Stan couldn’t even hide his excitement at seeing her again, “come here, yea’ dumb-" He attempted to grab her to give her a noogie but the girl swept under Ford's arms to dodge his grasp. She jumped on top of his back and swiftly wrapped her arms around his neck. “You can’t trap me old man!” Her eyes began to water as she laughed. Stan wiped a tear out from under his glasses. “Why you-" The two of them continued picking on each other for a few more minutes, trying their best not to show the other how much they missed each other.

Little time passed before a bus from California rolled up the street. Stanford continued to think of the twins as the young teens he met years ago. Each time he would prepare himself to see the two of them as kids cheerfully running up to embrace their Grunkle Stan, jumping on top of him and laughing as he would pick them up and swing them around, just like the first time they returned. The bus doors opened. Mabel paced down the steps with a huge grin on her face, she was holding two large bags and gently swung them back and forth. She looked like a young woman now. Her new look was more simple than what Ford was used to seeing on her. For once her hair was not dyed. She adopted a hair cut like Elizabeth Taylor's, it was down to her neck and gelled out. She was wearing a white sweater dress and a large pink overcoat with a yellow lining inside. She had matured so much, Ford found his chest tight with pride, that was until she pulled up her bags to her chin and started making noises when she walked down each step. **“WHUMP. WHUMP. WHUMP.”** She wobbled down each step with absolute confidence as her pig Waddles followed behind her. Her smile grew twice as big when she reached her final step. Finally she hit the ground and threw her bags to the side. She took off running to Stan who embraced her. He wrapped his arms around her as the two of them yelled their hellos. Stan picked her up and spun her around, Mabel began to cry tears of joy. When he placed her back on to the ground she lifted up her neck and held her face back. She put her hands up to her eyelashes. “Oh my God the glue! My lashes are going to come off.”

Ford walked up to greet her and before he knew it, she was in his arms. Wendy walked up and crossed her arms, “She cries more when she meets you two than when she leaves.” At the sound of her voice Mabel jumped out of his arms, “Wendy!” She dropped from out of Ford’s arms and into the embrace of the tall lumberjack’s daughter. “Wendy! Look! I changed my hair!” Mabel was trying her best to hold back her tears. “I can see that man.” Wendy pat her on the back and sent her off to greet her old friends. Candy and Grenda lifted up their arms, letting out a joyful wale. They wrapped themselves around Mabel. The three of them all piled into a group hug, Pacifica reached out her hand to pat Mabel’s shoulder, keeping her distance. Soos ran in and picked all four of them up. Ford noticed Pacifica making a strange face as she was being squished into a hug she wanted no part of. She was mouthing the words “help me.” Ford directed his attention back to the bus, Dipper was pulling off the rest of their luggage. He looked nervous and seemed like he was apologizing to the driver for the hold up.

Dipper placed the rest of the bags on the ground, quest gleefully barked and jumped at dipper as he finished unloading their things. Dipper gladly let him lick his face to greet him. He waved a gentle hello towards Mabel’s friends, still piled into a giant group hug. As he approached them started scratching at the back of his neck. Soos quickly grabbed Dipper and pulled him into their embrace. Ford could no longer see where Dipper was, except for one of his hands that was contorted in pain. Dipper eventually broke free and made his way over to Stan. The teen offered him a handshake and Stan took it, suddenly pulling him into a hug. Ford’s smile grew into a grin, “Looks like you got a warm welcome.” Dipper pulled himself from Stan’s grasp.

“Yeah, I love being crushed.” He opened his arms to hug his great uncle. 

“It’s good to see you Dipper.”

“It’s good to see you too Great Uncle Ford.”

* * *

The walk back to the shack was filled with questions. Now nearly everyone in the group was trying to get Stan to tell them of his adventures. “Did you meet any sea witches?” As dumb as Mabel’s question sounded to Stan he still answered, “no.” Candy was getting in on the action. “Did you see any sea vampires?”

“No?”

“Did you see a rock lobster?” Mabel poked Stan.

“No! Oh wait- yes, actually we did.”

Dipper had walked alongside Ford asking him if he had seen anything worth noting, Stan seemed appreciative that Dipper spent his time asking Ford for his stories instead of asking him some nonsensical question. “We were tracing the location of source of a specific anomaly for the past two months. Turns out it was a sea turtle that swallowed a talisman.”

“Booooooo.” Grenda called out.

"That's disapointing." Gideon chimed in, still reading through his paperback.

"Weak." Wendy sided with Grenda.

Mabel, however, seemed a bit more impressed, “aww, magic turtle.”

“You managed to track down one item in the ocean, that’s pretty cool.” Dipper knew how difficult the journey must have been, he took the effort to reassure his grunkles.

Candy was covering her smile with her fist, “Yeah, well it’s no sea vampire.”

Wendy gave Ford a gentle looking smirk. “Honestly did you guys see anything cool?”

“Well, I met a certain harpy.” Stan's tone had a flirtatious inflection, he wiggled his eyebrows as he spoke. The entire group retched in disgust.

“Stan.” Ford sounded complacent. “You were almost mauled to death.”

“Yeah.” Stan rubbed his chin, “still got it, you know I-”

“Don’t continue that sentiment.” Dipper pleaded.

For the rest of the walk Mabel continues to ask Stan what he was up too, bantering back and forth with her brother and cheerfully dismissing his comebacks. Stan holding onto Mabel’s hand and placing his hand on Dipper’s shoulder. The two of them had really softened Stan up. Stan smiled back at the Ford, he stopped to reassure himself that the kids had softened him up too.

**Author's Note:**

> I will be adding tags, characters and a rating as this updates. I will occasionally drop in to fix some grammar and spelling errors.


End file.
